Tag: end of life doulas

In this episode I share some thoughts about how to get involved in the end-of-life movement if you have recently become interested in death and dying. You’ll hear about my best ideas for contributing to change in the way people die and offering your service to others.

Welcome to our new sponsor: Authentic Presence Training from the Spiritual Care Program. Authentic Presence brings together practical contemplative resources with the knowledge and skills of modern hospice and palliative care. Suitable for professionals from all faith traditions or none, the course draws its inspiration particularly from Buddhist contemplative practice, the acclaimed classic The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, the work of the Dalai Lama, as well as contemplative neuroscience. Learn more here.

Pet Therapy for Hospice Patients – if you have a special pet and would like to receive training to provide visits to patients. Learn more in this interview.

Seek out other opportunities in your community like Meals on Wheels, hospital or nursing home volunteer programs, church-related visitation programs

Become an End-of-Life Doula – check out the training mentioned above with Suzanne O’Brien and find out if this work is a good fit for you. Learn more here.

Start a caregiver training program – the need for in-home caregivers is going to increase dramatically over the next decade. Consider becoming a caregiver trainer to help your community meet this need.

Teach a death education class – there is currently a great need for education about death and dying in our society. Consider teaching your own class or workshop to provide information to others in your community. Get the Teaching Guidelines for a Death & Dying Class here.

Create a Community Event to inspire people to learn more about the end of life:

Learn what the history of natural childbirth in the U. S. has in common with the changes we are seeking in end-of-life care and how we can benefit from that knowledge as we move forward.

In this episode I share information from an article I researched and wrote about the natural childbirth movement in the U.S., how it developed over decades and ultimately succeeded with the help of the Baby Boom Generation. I’ll show how our current end-of-life movement is following a similar path and what we need to learn from the past. Download the special report below:

You can still join the online reading group: A Year of Reading Dangerously and read one book each month in 2018 about death, dying and the afterlife. In May we read the book Sacred Dying * by Megory Anderson and for the month of June we’re reading Choosing to Die * by Phyllis Shacter. Go to http://eoluniversity.com/yearofreading to learn more.

(* NOTE: These are affiliate links to Amazon – if you choose to purchase the books from these pages I will receive a small commission which will help support this podcast but cost nothing extra for you.)

This episode is sponsored by the album Healing Chants by Gia! Check out this gorgeous collection of chants to help you relax, breathe deep, let go, and heal. Stay tuned to the end of the episode to hear the chant: You and I Are One.

A “perfect storm” led to the breakthrough of natural childbirth into mainstream U.S. medicine and society back in the 1970’s as the Baby Boom generation began demanding better alternatives. There is a similar “perfect storm” brewing right now around end-of-life care as Baby Boomers are aging and facing their own later years.

According to the book Family Centered Maternity by Celeste R. Phillips there were 3 key factors that contributed to the rise in popularity of natural childbirth. These same factors are present now in the end-of-life movement:

Medical Pioneers who served as advocates within the medical profession and began demanding change from their colleagues.

Grassroots Movements in communities that educated and empowered consumers to push for improved and alternative methods of care.

Media Attention that spotlighted the cause and galvanized the public to get involved while also normalizing the conversation.

But change doesn’t happen overnight and those seeking change in how our society deals with death and dying need to remember these 3 lessons about change:

Change in society is ultimately driven by economic factors

Change requires a united effort

Change requires a critical mass

Stay tuned next week for Part 2 of this discussion which will cover the potential deterrents to the change we are seeking and the takeaway lessons that should be learned from studying the history of natural childbirth.

Thanks to all the supporters of this podcast on Patreon.com/eolu! Sign up to make a contribution of just $1 per month and receive special bonuses for patrons only!

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Death & Dying Class Instructor Training

NOW AVAILABLE: Death & Dying Class Instructor Training

If you’ve always wanted to teach about Death & Dying issues this self-paced course will guide through the process of putting a class together. The course consists of 4 video modules (each about 1 hour long) and includes occasional Q&A calls with Dr. Wyatt and a private Facebook group for networking with other students.

A Year of Reading Dangerously

Sign up for A Year of Reading Dangerously and join us online in reading one book a month about death and dying for 2020! Learn more here.

AVAILABLE May 2020:

7 Lessons for Living from the Dying: How to Nurture What Really Matters

From Watkins Publishing:

There is no life without death.

The aim of this book is to ease our terror of death so that we can contemplate our own deaths, and those of our loved ones, with less regret, disappointment and fear, and to learn to live with more freedom and joy.

Collected here are uplifting stories of transformation and healing gathered by Dr Karen Wyatt from the hospice patients in her care. She offers the seven key lessons the dying taught her, from suffering (“embrace your difficulties”) and love (“let your heart be broken”) to forgiveness (“hold no resentments”) and impermanence (“face your fear”).

The sometimes challenging, always inspiring real-life stories are combined with guidance on absorbing the 7 lessons into our lives through meditation and other spiritual practices. Teaching us what really matters in life, the dying show us how to live our best lives now with meaning, purpose and love.

End-Of-Life University Podcast

End-of-Life University

Real talk about life and death

Dr. Karen Wyatt, hospice physician and author of "What Really Matters," interviews experts on all aspects of the end-of-life, including: caring for the dying, funeral and burial practices, planning for the end-of-life, conscious dying, grief and loss, caregiver support, afterlife, death and the arts, and community initiatives to improve end-of-life care. Access more interviews at www.eoluniversity.com

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